Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Dickau to Italy

Dan Dickau, an All-American during his time at GU, has signed a professional contract to play for the Italian team, Avellino. Avellino will be making their debut in the top European club competition this year, and it seems they have been pinned their hopes on Dickau as the starting PG. This should be a great opportunity for Dan to really earn some consistent playing time, and he should be going up against great competition on a weekly basis.

Dickau has bounced around the NBA during his career, playing for the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Portland Trailblazers, New York Knicks, New Orleans Hornets, Golden State Warriors (never actually played), and most recently the LA Clippers. Dickau had his best year as the starting PG for the New Orleans Hornets, when he averaged 13.2 pts and 5.2 assists. Although he consistently produced when given playing team, it never seemed that a team was willing to give Dickau a chance to play heavy minutes for consecutive seasons.

Here is one quote from the article about the signing that was interesting

"Our aim was to find a player that could make a difference and dictate the tempo of our team," club president Vincenzo Ercolino. "In the end we managed to bring Dan Dickau to Avellino. He is a serious professional with NBA experience. We have nothing to envy of any other playmaker that arrived in Italy this year."

This seems to be a clear shot at Brandon Jennings, the high schooler who has decided to play in Italy, instead of going to the University of Arizona. Good luck to Dan, and we will have more news on this when it becomes available.